


How To Love?

by Nelaila



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Han Jisung | Han & Kang Younghyun | Young K are Siblings, Kim Seungmin & Kim Wonpil are Siblings, Kim Seungmin is a mess, Light Angst, M/M, Seungmin and Jisung are best friends, i actually tried this time, i really hate myself, i suck at summaries, this is the 4th rare pair i'm writing a ff for, why am i like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 07:47:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19942672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelaila/pseuds/Nelaila
Summary: Seungmin is confused. Everyone seems to think that he and Jisung are together when he doesn't have any feelings for his best friend. His mind becomes an even bigger mess when he developes a crush on Minho.





	How To Love?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, this is yet another time I'm entering the rare pair hell. This is the first time I wrote a one shot that long, so I hope it's not messed up too much! I hope that you will enjoy it!
> 
> Yep, this was heavily inspired by a whole LOT of Day6 songs, stream Time Of Our Life for clear skin

For the longest time, it was always Seungmin and Jisung, side by side. None of them could remember the time when they weren't friends. Almost no one that knew them have ever seen one without the other attached by a hip. It was always like that, Seungmin and Jisung, two inseparable best friends. 

It probably has to do with the fact that their families were close since few decades. Their mothers came from the same little city on the west coast of Korea and were good friends since elementary. They both left the town to attend the university, but that didn't make them lose contact. Their bond was too strong to just break because of the distance, it even made their friendship stronger than ever.

They even got married on the same day. They reasoned it by saying that they spent less money, since they shared most of their friends, but it wasn't like their lovers would not agree to that idea. Both pairs of newlyweds moved to the outskirts of Seoul. Right beside each other, two best friends were ready to start their new life with new families. 

First, it was the Kang household that welcomed a new family member. Little Younghyun was born and the couple couldn't contain their happiness. It only took few months for the Kim family to find out that they were also expecting. 

Then, Wonpil was born. Two young mothers did what they could to make their two sons become friends, but for a long time it was quite the opposite. The crayons were broken, toys were stolen, tears were shed. To put it simply, two boys hated each other. 

Only few years later both families gained another young soul in their homes. Jisung and Seungmin were born only few days after each other and were automatically deemed as soulmates by their respective families.

This time, they were actually right. Since the first moments together, two boys formed a special bond that nothing could ever break. That friendship grew for years and even impressed a very stubborn Younghyun to the extent that at the beginning of the middle school he actually apologized and made up with Wonpil. They weren't best friends yet, but they were slowly getting there.

Like that, years have passed. Seungmin and Jisung were always there for each other. They went together through first crushes, heartbreaks, failed classes, parties. Whenever one found some new hobby, other was always hyping him up, no matter how weird or lame the thing was. Jisung had his skateboarding phase, emo bands and somehow photography. Other than that the boy had a thing for writing lyrics, that one was probably related to his brother’s job as a songwriter. 

Seungmin on the other hand, went through his anime phase, a time when he was weirdly fascinated with birds to then end up with a huge interest physics. All of them were completely lame in Jisung's opinion, but he was still Seungmin's number one hype man. 

They grew up always showering each other with affection. Whether it be cuddles, kisses on the cheek or simple hand holding. Since the last year of middle school you couldn't see them without their hands interlocked. It just felt natural for them, but for others it was a reason to start talking.

When they entered high school, without anyone who knew them, most people just assumed that they were dating. They didn't go out of their way to tell everyone that they were just friends. Only when someone actually asked, but even then that person would usually say "You would look cute together though!" or something among these lines. 

After a while, Seungmin started wondering. What if they were actually meant to be together? He didn't feel any romantic feelings towards Jisung, but the only crushes on other people lasted only about a month or two. There was that one time he was actually hurt by a rejection from a girl he liked, but after about a week he didn't feel anything. Also, all of those 'crushes', not like there were many, happened about two years before. Or even more. Everyone seemed to see them as a match made in heaven, their parents sometimes even referred to them as soulmates and their older brothers couldn't stop with their teasing. 

They were meant to be, right? 

It turned out that not only Seungmin was wondering about it. One night, while having a sleepover at Jisung's, the latter brought up the topic. They talked for the most of the night and even kissed to ensure themselves that they have no romantic feelings for each other. The kiss was sloppy, awkward and Jisung started laughing midway through it. They agreed to just forget about it and act like before. Even though, Seungmin would still wonder about it. Maybe he just expects the wrong thing from love? Maybe it’s already there, between them? But how can he tell, if he never experienced love?

So he just acted normally, not withdrawing from any kind of affection towards Jisung, still awkwardly laughing off the assumptions about their relationship. They talked about it few times more, never bringing up the kiss, but it always led up to the same conclusion. The feelings between them will eventually appear, if they are not there already. They will live happily ever after without disappointing anyone. Because they are meant to be.

With that in mind, they start sophomore year. Walking hand in hand through the hallway, greeting their friends, awkwardly smiling when someone comments how cute they look together. Sometimes they would start talking about it even more, but then Jisung would just drag Seungmin out of there. 

Since it was the first day, the lessons were basically reading syllabus and maybe some rules. After a while Seungmin got bored of listening what he was going to learn in this year’s math course. You need to have that shock factor right? He let his eyes wander around the classroom. Besides two girls that were in his biology class last year, he didn’t know anyone. 

He looked closer at everyone. It seemed like a class shared with some juniors. There was one girl he remembered from his english class last year. She was a junior, for sure. Next to her sat this dude whose hair looked like it was still on his scalp only because of his willpower. Seungmin wondered how many times it was bleached to reach that state. There was also one guy that basically screamed ‘edgy’ with his whole presence, but other than that, no one else really stood out. 

The classes passed as Seungmin was thinking of some kind of backstory for every person in the room. He did that a lot with Jisung. Most of the time, both of them were completely wrong, but once, Jisung somehow managed to guess that a girl in their middle school had a pet tarantula and threatened her dad with it. They found out on a pets day when she brought her spider, it was named Sammy, and recalled a story when her dad told her she can’t go to her friend’s birthday party and she scared him by saying that she will let Sammy loose. She didn’t tell what was the outcome though.

Seungmin looked around to find his first victim. The bleached hair dude. Crispy suits him. He decided that Crispy was probably a sucker for bets and made them all the time with his friends no matter how ridiculous they were. Most of the times, he was a loser. His friends always demanded him to bleach his hair. They probably also placed bets behind his back on how long will it take them to make him bald. Not the best choice of friends if you asked Seungmin.

The edgelord on the other hand, was an underground beyblade master. Seungmin didn’t even know how that game worked, but it weirdly fitted the guy sitting at the back of the class. If that wasn’t it, he was probably a very passionate Pokemon Trading Card Game collector that would start a fight with his little brother over one missing Psyduck card. 

That junior girl was a really hard one. He couldn’t think of anything fitting her. She secretly worked as an FBI agent? Maybe she ran a shop with stuff for knitting? Or she was an ex swimmer that was the hope of Korea’s national team but got injured? There were many options but none of them had the right vibe to it. 

“Min. Seungmin. You’re spacing out again.” Jisung said to him. Seungmin didn’t even notice that the class has ended. He looked around and saw that it was only him, Jisung and the edgelord left in the room. “You want to go to the cafeteria? Or do we stay here?” 

“Let’s stay here, it’s quieter.” Jisung nodded at him and started vividly talking about his day. 

“So I had this English class right?” Seungmin nodded “There was this girl, a pretty cute one, I would date if I were straight. She looked friendly so I sat beside her and we started talking. There were like, about five minutes till the class started and this fucker comes in.” Seungmin furrowed his brows and listened while being confused. “He completely ignored all of the free seats and marched towards us. He was like ‘Why are you sitting here? It’s my spot.’ First of all, rude. Second of all, he could just ask me to move somewhere else and I would do so, but with that attitude? No fucking way. So we started arguing, he almost punched me but his friend dragged him away before he could do anything. Though the teacher saw it and he got a detention.” Jisung finished with a proud smile on his face. 

“Really? A detention on the first day? Who does that?” Seungmin asked.

“Hwang Hyunjin apparently.” The guy at the back of the classroom choked on air and started typing on his phone in a very aggressive way. After his coughing fit ended, he shot a look at the two boys and stormed out of the classroom. Jisung was looking at the door with a bewildered expression. “What was that even.” He muttered under his breath. 

“That was the edgelord.” Seungmin calmly answered even if inside he was just as dumbfounded as Jisung. They looked at each other and Jisung started awkwardly laughing. Seungmin couldn’t help but also crack a smile which then turned into full fledged laughter. 

Soon after, it quietened down and two friends fell into comfortable silence. At this point they could spend few hours just sitting beside each other, doing completely different things without talking. That’s basically how they spent half of the holidays. 

Do all of the relationships work like that? In movies and books all of those pairs have the quiet moments when they just are beside each other. But the same movies and books describe love as something entirely different from what he feels towards Jisung. It’s just frustrating, everyone talks about it, how great it is. He just wants to know what love is. He is ready, he wants to experience it. 

“Oh, isn’t that the edgelord?” Jisung said as he moved a bit to have a better view from the window. Seungmin also looked out and saw three boys standing in a pretty secluded area. One of them had a cigarette in his hand, because why else would they be in one of the few areas where basically none of the teachers can see them. 

“I didn’t deem him as a bad boy type.” Seungmin said after he stood beside Jisung who hummed in acknowledgement. 

“Yeah, he kinda seems like an emo guy. You know, Fall Out Boy, early Panic! At The Disco. Only lacks some eyeliner.” Jisung said struggling with putting a straw into his orange juice because his eyes never left the group outside. The boy was clearly not good at multitasking. 

“I mean, I suspected him to be a Beyblade master.” Seungmin said with a sheepish smile when he realized that he was probably terribly wrong and the guy was most likely more cliche than he anticipated. 

“That’s one of your better ones.” Jisung said while chuckling a little. “What do you think about Hyunjin? The tall one. For me, he’s a total douchebag, straight and would probably cheat on his girlfriend in a bathroom stall.” 

“The douchebag part fits, from what you told me. As for straight, he seems like he would actually experiment. I don’t know about the cheating part but he probably loves gardening.” Seungmin answered after staring at Hyunjin for a while. The boy was very handsome, he could probably model for a magazine cover if he wanted. Totally fits the school heartthrob trope. 

“Gardening?” Jisung asked him with raised eyebrows.

“He took it up from his mother. She was basically a plant hoe and they were very close so that one was given. Poor boy is embarrassed about it and no one knows that about his interest.” Jisung laughed at Seungmin’s explanation. 

“And the third one?” Jisung asked watching the group intently again. Seungmin shifted his attention to the boy in question. He was shorter than Hyunjin, but still a bit taller than the edgelord. Seungmin could only see his back, but that was enough for him that the boy screamed trouble. He stood there with a certain confidence, one that could easily intimidate. 

The group slowly gathered up to go back to the school building. Seungmin attentively watched the boy’s movement, waiting till he would be able to catch a glimpse of his face. He didn’t see that Jisung already sat down to finish his lunch, nor that Hyunjin was pointing at him while saying something to the rest of his group. He only noticed when the rest was already looking at him. 

In this moment, Seungmin felt like a complete fool. One look at the boy’s face and he felt sudden emotions pouring right at him. Without knowing, his heart started pounding, his palms were sweaty but he couldn’t look away. His body was not listening to him anymore. There was something in those eyes, that left his heart feel like it was burning. The boy’s soft features didn’t suit him at all, even if they were undeniably beautiful. 

After what it felt like hours, the boy looked away and Seungmin could finally release the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Slowly, he sat down and looked at Jisung who was still occupied by his sandwich. Seungmin used that time to calm down, even a bit. He knew exactly what was happening, but it was just wrong. He shouldn’t feel that way. Jisung looked up at him after finishing eating. He only furrowed his brows at his friend’s weir expression knowing better than to pry. He quickly gathered his things and left to his next class after bidding goodbye.

That left Seungmin alone with his thoughts. They automatically wandered to the stranger. He never felt this way before, at least not exactly. He knew that it’s a crush, but it felt different from the ones he had in the past. The previous ones were never that much. From the start it was just a little bit of heart fluttering, longer stares and quick smiles. It always felt like summer rain, with all of it softly falling on him. This time, it was more of a downpour. It felt like these emotions were suddenly flooding his heart. 

People were starting to come back to the classroom, some new faces joining, but Seungmin couldn’t care less. He could just think. Even when the class started, he couldn’t stop. It was too overwhelming for him. He needed to breathe.

When the class finally ended, he quickly stepped out to the hallway. He wandered around breathing deeply, his eyes unconsciously searching for the familiar face. He knew that he shouldn’t. Everyone expects something else from him, there is a line formed. These feeling are definitely crossing it. He knew that he would disappoint everyone, himself included. That was not what he was supposed to feel. 

They locked eyes. Seungmin stopped in his track immediately. The stranger was giving him his whole attention and he felt like he was going to break. They were staring intensely at each other. He barely even noticed that the stranger gave him the once over. Before he could comprehend it, the boy smiled at him and went in his own way. Seungmin felt like he was going to melt on the spot. That smile felt intoxicating, even if he only saw it once, he was already addicted to it. 

The rest of the classes dragged for Seungmin. Not like he was even trying to pay attention to any of them. His mind was coming back to that smile, over and over again. He was trying his hardest not to think about it, he was still in a public place after all. He just let the moment replay. Only later, in the comforting warmth of his bed, he could finally let his thoughts loose. 

It was getting harder and harder every moment to fight the memory of this smile. He could basically hear the voice of his parents saying that he and Jisung are meant to be together from the back of his head. He knew that he was crossing the line that everyone told him not to cross. He knew that everyone would tell him to stop, but where’s the point if it’s already too late? 

He knew that he already fell, pretty deep. He knew that it was fast, everyone would tell him that it was too fast, that it will go away like every time before. But what if it won’t? It felt different since the start, it doesn’t have to go away that easily. The longest he had ever felt interested in someone was for barely few weeks and it felt a lot less. It was something new for him, he was scared, overwhelmed, even a bit disappointed. But at the same time, it felt special, exciting, fascinating. He wanted more, he wanted to learn those feelings up close. It was not what others wanted and he knew that, but it only made him want it more.

For the following weeks, he acted like nothing happened. Or at least tried. The whole situation was devastating. He was constantly searching for the stranger in the crowd, his mind always telling him that it’s bad. That he has Jisung, whom he should fall in love with. But his heart didn’t listen, it was burning every time he saw that face. Each time, he longed for more, even if his mind was constantly stopping him. 

He knew that he should just stop. He has Jisung, a constant in his life, that he knew since forever. Jisung would never leave him, no matter what. He was always there for him. The stranger seemed like a big mystery, Seungmin didn’t know a thing about him. Everything about the boy was so different, it seemed so risky. There was no set outcome, yet Seungmin couldn’t help but be drawn in. 

Seungmin sat on the ground behind the school. He’s been doing that since his freshman year when things became too much or he just wanted a good place to think. This time it was a mix of both. It’s been two weeks since his problem started and it didn’t look like his feelings were going to fade any time soon. He has to do something or he might go crazy. The worried look Jisung was giving him everyday didn’t help at all. He knew he should talk about it soon.

“Hello there.” Seungmin heard a soft voice coming from behind him. It sounded pretty cheerful, playful even. He looked at the owner and felt his breath hitching. In front of him stood the stranger, shining softly against the grey sky. “The weather isn’t nice today. You shouldn’t sit there on the ground.” 

“Yeah I know, sorry.” He barely muttered. Again, he couldn’t look away from him. The boy was too fascinating, too different. One look from him could easily make his mind go crazy. The stranger noticed the dumbfounded look on the other’s face and chuckled at it. It sounded lovely, oh so lovely. More than any other sound. 

“Then what brings you there? I’m Minho by the way.” The boy crouched beside Seungmin. Minho. How the boy so different from the others could have such a generic name? 

“Just thinking.” Seungmin answered and quickly averted his eyes. They stayed in silence for a while before Seungmin tried to catch a glimpse of Minho without being too obvious. He failed miserably since Minho was staring intently at him with a little smile on his face. 

Sensing that Seungmin isn’t going to start a conversation any time soon, Mino started softly humming a song while swaying back and forth. The melody was familiar to Seungmin, it slowly helped him calm down his racing heart. 

“What is this song called?” Seungmin asked after not being able to pinpoint why is the tune so familiar to him. Minho stopped humming and looked directly at him, smile on his face wider than before.

“I’ll try.” He answered simply. 

“Ah, I think that my brother wrote it.” Seungmin said quietly, mostly to himself.

“Kim Wonpil?” Minho asked, now facing Seungmin with his whole body. He looked really interested. Seungmin just nodded. “It’s like my favourite song. Does he have more? I tried searching him up but I found close to nothing.” 

“He’s mostly a vocal coach at the company, that was the first time a song he wrote was approved.” Seungmin remembered the day when Wonpil called home saying that his song is going to be released like it was yesterday. Their mother prepared a whole celebratory dinner for him, he cried for about twenty minutes before they could even start eating only to start crying again midway through.That was one of Seungmin’s favourite memories with his family.

“I hope he gets more of them released. Are you also an artistic person like your brother?” Minho asked hoping that this was not the end of their conversation. 

“Hell no, I’m a lot more into science. You?” Seungmin said earning a chuckle from Minho. 

“Me? I think that I’m a mix of both. Science is all about discovering the world as it is, in its rawest form. Art kind of does the same thing, but with emotions. They compliment each other well, don’t you think?” He looked at Seungmin who was staring at him with a confused expression. “I guess that I can’t see the world without both of them. It would be too big of a loss to just look at one side of things.” 

They just sat there in silence after that. Seungmin had no idea what to say but Minho looked content with no words being exchanged. He just sat there with his eyes closed, breathing deeply. Seungmin could just stare at the person he had been so infatuated with. The longer he stared, the fuzzier the feeling in his chest got. 

“Well, I think we should go back.” Minho suddenly said glancing at his phone. He showed the screen to Seungmin. It was ten less than ten minutes until the next period started. “It was nice to meet you Seungmin, I hope that now you won’t only stare at me in the hallway but also come by to chat a bit.” Minho ended with a smirk on his face as he got up and left after waving at Seungmin. 

Any bit of hope that Seungmin had for his feelings to fade completely vanished. He kind of hoped that Minho was actually a jerk and that maybe after actually talking to the boy his attraction towards him would die out. But instead, Seungmin grew even more fascinated by him. They only talked for a short while and he can’t help but want more. 

He wants to get to know him, all of his weird habits, the memories he’s particularly fond of. He also wants to share his own little stories, his plans, dreams. He wants to learn about the feelings that grow in his chest, experience them in their fullest. 

Seungmin finally got up and basically sprinted towards his classroom to avoid being late. He earned a weird look from the edgelord when he entered the room panting but he couldn’t care less. He felt amazing. He didn’t even realize how happy he actually was because of the talk with Minho until it already ended. He wants more of it, so much more.

Through the rest of the day Seungmin felt light on his feet. Suddenly the vision of so many classes ahead of him wasn’t that dreading. Each one felt short, not tiring at all. They passed seemingly in a blink of an eye. Minho truly did something to Seungmin’s heart. 

He almost forgot that he was supposed to sleep over at Jisung’s. All of the worries from before came back when they were on their way home. Seungmin’s mind was plagued with all of the thoughts he managed to avoid while his best friend was rambling about his day. 

They arrived at Jisung’s house. Seungmin only nodded along to whatever his friend and his family were talking about. He managed to survive through dinner with only greeting Younghyun who was on his way out and not saying anything else. Afterwards, Jisung told him to take their bags to his room and he went to help his mother with cleaning up.

Seungmin did as he was told. He just dropped their bags beside the desk and sat down on the carpet. After a moment of just sitting there without doing anything he decided to start his homework. He had been doing it for ten minutes when Jisung entered the room.

“So can you tell me what got you looking like a beaten up puppy?” Jisung said after he sat down in front of Seungmin and snatched his notebook. 

“I don’t look like that!” Seungmin protested while laughing nervously. He hoped that it would somehow redirect Jisung’s attention.

“Seungmin, i’m just worried. You’ve been acting weird lately and it hurts to not know what is happening with you.” Jisung said while holding Seungmin’s hand who just looked down on the carpet. They stayed like this for a while. “Seungmin I won’t be able to help you if you won’t say what’s wrong.”

“It’s just… You know how everyone says how we would make a perfect couple?” Seungmin started slowly, feeling his cheeks warming up.

“Are you trying to confess your undying love for me?” Jisung joked to loosen up the atmosphere. And he succeeded, Seungmin fell on his back while laughing. He moved his head to signalise that it was not the case. When he calmed down he saw Jisung watching him with brows furrowed. After a moment, the look of realization showed on his face. “Oh god you have a crush on someone.” 

Seungmin felt his entire face heating up. Jisung took it as yes and basically screeched as he launched himself on Seungmin to hug him. Seungmin was utterly confused. Why was Jisung so happy? It was not how it should go? 

“Wait, why were you so distressed about that?” Jisung said after he finally lifted his body from Seungmin’s.

“Because we are supposed to be together? As a couple? Everyone expects that, I don’t want to disappoint them.” Seungmin explained quietly, fearing that his voice will betray him and show how hard it is to him.

“Just because other people expect us to be the perfect couple doesn’t mean that we have to be one.” Jisung said completely serious. 

“But it’s literally everyone! Our parents, brothers, friends and even people we barely know!” Seungmin raised his voice a bit. He felt tears threatening to fall down from his eyes.

“They don’t know that for sure.” 

“But-”

“No buts!” Jisung interrupted him. “You know yourself the best Seungmin. You can’t let everyone dictate the way you live. If you like that person, just go for it, don’t feel bad that it’s not what other people want. Live your life, not the other’s.”

At that, Seungmin started crying. He needed that reassurement, especially from Jisung. He threw himself at his best friend and cried on his shoulder. Jisung wrapped his arms around the other boy’s frame and held him in a tight embrace. He never realized that this situation was bothering Seungmin so much. 

“Minnie, I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you.” Jisung said quietly as he felt like he was about to start crying too. The fact that Seungmin didn’t go to him to talk about what was wrong made him feel like a shitty friend. He hugged the boy even tighter. 

“I was just stupid.” Seungmin said and snuggled even closer. Jisung let out a breathy laugh as he laid down on the floor dragging Seungmin along. They were calming down slowly. They stayed like this, cuddling until they fell asleep. 

They woke up the next day, went to school, acted like both of them didn’t have a mental breakdown yesterday. The classes went smoothly, Seungmin talked with Crispy, it turned out his name was actually Chan. The school’s resident soundcloud rapper. The bleached hair wasn’t a result of any bets, Chan told him that it was a fashion statement. A bad one if you asked Seungmin. 

At lunch, exactly three minutes after the class ended, Jisung barged into Seungmin’s classroom. They made the room their place since everyone always went somewhere else. Only edgelord stayed sometimes but he never seemed to pay any attention to them. That day it was only the two best friend in the room.

Jisung sat down in front of Seungmin and looked at him with a fierce expression. A smug smirk appeared on his face as he locked eyes with his companion. They stared at each other in silence for good few minutes before Seungmin went back to eating and reading his physics textbook. 

“I need to know who’s the guy.” Jisung finally said and Seungmin choked on his sandwich. The latter felt the heat creeping on his cheeks as he looked up to meet his friend’s eyes. The demand for that information was written all over his face.

“Lee Minho.” Seungmin said embarrassed.

“Whomst?” The other tilted his head in confusion. 

“You remember when we watched Hyunjin and his friends from the window?” Seungmin started and realized how creepy this sentence sounded. Jisung didn’t seem to mind and just nodded. “So there was the edgelord right? But there was also the other guy. That was him.” 

“I didn’t deem you as a type who likes bad boys.” Jisung joked and chuckled. That comment made Seungmin groan and hide his red face behind the book. “I mean, he looked kinda cute. At least from the distance.”

“Jisung, we both know how bad your eyesight is. You could be looking at a tree instead and not be able to tell the difference.” 

“It’s not that bad!” Seungmin looked at him and opened his mouth to recall one of many instances when Jisung’s ‘20/20’ eyesight showed its true power but the boy interrupted him before he could start. “Okay, maybe it is”

“It definitely is.”

“Then show me the boy.” Jisung said as he abruptly stood up. He grabbed Seungmin’s hand who was too startled to protest and dragged him out of the classroom. They wandered around the hallways, stopped a few times when one of their friends started talking to them but Jisung quickly dismissed everyone saying that they are on the mission. 

Seungmin let himself be guided by Jisung, he was focusing solely on finding Minho in the crowd. His eyes wandering from person to person in hopes of seeing the familiar face that makes his heart flutter. They walked around, went through all of the floors and Seungmin thought that maybe Minho just wasn’t there. But then, when they turned around the corner, he noticed the familiar hair and dragged Jisung back to hide behind the wall. 

“What the hell Min?” Jisung said but Seungmin shushed him. 

“That’s him.” Seungmin whispered. The boys crouched and Jisung leaned his head out to get a look at his friend’s crush.

“I was right, he’s pretty cute.” He said while squinting his eyes. 

“You sure you can see him? He’s gorgeous, not pretty cute.” Jisung rolled his eyes at Seungmin’s comment. Both of them were looking at Minho talking to Hyunjin around the corner. 

“Couldn't you like, fall for someone that is not close with that bitch?” Jisung murmured while glaring at Hyunjin. Seungmin chuckled at his best friend.

“Why are you guys stalking my friends?”

They momentarily stopped bickering. Seungmin glanced at Jisung to see him in a panicked state. He nudged the other and they slowly looked behind them.

“Oh god it’s edgelord.” Jisung whispered looking at the boy with wide eyes.

“The what?” The said boy asked. 

“Nothing!” Jisung squealed and looked at Seungmin with a pleading expression but his best friend could only try to hold in a laugh.

“Well boys, stalking is only romantic in movies, it’s creepy in real life. Don’t do that again.” The boy said as he moved to leave them. “Oh and don’t call me edgelord ever again, you overgrown squirrel. It’s Changbin.”

After that, Changbin left to join his friends. The duo just stayed in their place, trying to calm down. Seungmin was just a bit stressed that his classmate saw him in a questionable situation, while Jisung was still flushed in embarrassment for calling the said classmate by a very cringey name. 

“I just single handedly ruined my reputation, didn’t I?” Jisung asked looking into the distance with a blank expression.

“Not like you had any in his eyes.” Seungmin answered getting up.

“That’s oddly comforting.” 

After that, the day went rather uneventful. So did the following weeks. Seungmin spent most of them admiring Minho from afar. Sometimes Jisung would try to make him actually talk to the guy but he would always come up with a half assed excuse. 

Seungmin was aware that suppressing his feelings wouldn’t get him anywhere but the perspective of actually coming to Minho and talking with him got too stressful over those past weeks. After all, he was a very inexperienced teenager with a crush on a gorgeous older boy, everyone would be like that.

“You didn’t come to me, so I came to you.” Seungmin was startled by a sudden voice. He looked up from his book and was met with Minho’s fierce gaze as he sat down in front of him. 

“My friend is supposed to come here any time soon.” Seungmin said as another excuse to somehow avoid talking to Minho.

“Don’t worry, I saw him talking to Changbin in front of the class, he won’t be alone.” Seungmin glanced around the room to see that they are really alone. He saw Jisung looking through the door and waving at him before he disappeared somewhere.

They sat there in silence, eating their lunch. Seungmin was trying to focus on his book but failed miserably. His mind was racing. The only thing he could think of was the boy in front of him, who unaware of Seungmin’s crisis was peacefully looking out of the window while eating a bagel. 

Seungmin took this time to admire the other boy. The scene felt like he was in some rom-com or an shoujo anime. He recalled how every day after waking up his heart raced at a mere thought of seeing Minho, having him softly smile in his direction. In these moments, his face would become hot, he would feel so embarrassed. The burning sensation in his chest would come so abruptly, at the moment they lock eyes. 

Having Minho right in front of him, when the older rambles about his day, felt different. It was not like Seungmin’s heart was set on fire, more like it was wrapped in a warm blanket. Minho felt different, yet familiar, especially when he talked about things he loved. To Seungmin, the other was always glowing, but in the moments when he was expressing his adoration for dancing or for the world surrounding them, he shined differently. His eyes were sparkling, a very warm aura was surrounding him, welcoming everyone to share what they love.

With that, Seungmin found himself talking a bit about physics, constantly checking if Minho wasn’t bored. But the other looked ecstatic to listen. So Seungmin continued, he explained everything passionately, always making sure that Minho knew what he was talking about. The older stayed eager to learn, even if some things were too complicated. He was looking at Seungmin with a fond smile as he talked about the black hole in the centre of our galaxy. 

Seungmin could feel his heart trembling every time he looked at Minho’s face. He was so enamored with the older, there was no point of fighting it. He decided to just embrace all of the pleasant feelings and try to get the most of it. Even if the other people still made him nervous, he actually wanted to give it a shot. 

The time passed too quickly for the pair’s liking. Soon the classroom started filling with people and Minho left. Even if Seungmin wanted the moment to last longer, he was content with the time they spent together. His heart was still beating faster than normally, he felt warm and his cheeks were tainted pink. Changbin only took one look at his face when he entered the room and shot him a knowing smirk that made Seungmin shrink in his seat.

After that, Seungmin found himself in Minho’s company a lot. They would casually chat between their classes, more often than not Jisung would disappear during the lunch time and Minho would take that as an opportunity to spend more time with Seungmin. It also seemed like the other students caught that something was going on. They found it weird to see Jisung and Seungmin separated that often. 

Some people came up to Seungmin to ask if everything is okay, if he fought with Jisung. It was really hard for him not to laugh at their confused expressions when he was telling them that everything is better than ever. Most of them dropped the topic after that, but a few were more persistent. They were really hung on the idea of the two dating each other and the reality only seemed to sink in now. 

The news spread quickly, people finally started seeing them as best friends even when they marched through hallways holding hands. Seungmin never felt so relieved in his whole life. He never realized that it would be so easy. Their schoolmates, albeit skeptically at first, received the information rather enthusiastically considering that Jisung got three love confessions in a span of two weeks. The boy didn’t even realize that he was so popular.

One day, Seungmin was sitting with Minho while reading ‘A Brief History Of Time’ while the other was working on his biology assignment. In silence, they did their own thing, the only sound was coming from the wind and chirping birds outside. They hadn’t exchanged a word since the beginning of lunch, but Seungmin had no idea how to start a conversation when Minho was so focused on his work. He just continued reading his book and tried cherishing the older’s presence.

“Hey, let’s go on a date.” Minho suddenly said. 

“Yeah, sure.” Seungmin answered before he even comprehended the question. Few seconds passed and his head shot up to look at Minho who was smiling softly at him. The warmness radiating from the older made Seungmin’s heart melt. He put his book on the table and nodded to confirm once more.

A huge grin formed on Minho’s face as he reached out to put his hand on Seungmin’s. Seungmin’s whole body tensed up because of the sudden warmness on his cold hand, but he relaxed after Minho started caressing it gently. 

“You could give me your number, don’t you think so?” Minho said still holding Seungmin’s hand. He unlocked his phone and slid it towards the younger boy. Seungmin quickly typed his number in and gave Minho his own phone so the older could do the same. 

The two locked their eyes and couldn’t stop the smile on their faces. They looked, as Jisung told Seungmin before, disgustingly in love. They were in their own little world before they heard someone clearing throat beside them. 

They looked at the door to see Changbin who motioned that the class is about to start what made Minho run out of the classroom. They were so preoccupied that they didn’t notice that the room was almost full by now. Everyone was looking either at Seungmin or at the door. Soon after most people went back to whatever they were doing before but Changbin and Chan still looked at Seungmin with a knowing expression. 

In the afternoon, Seungmin went home with Jisung. The latter insisted on a sleepover to ‘celebrate’ Seungmin scoring a date. When they entered Seungmin’s bedroom, Jisung jumped on his bed and demanded to know everything. There wasn’t much to it but he still squealed a lot, especially when Seungmin got to the hand holding part. This time his best friend was just as excited which didn’t happen often. 

“Sungie, how do dates work?” Seungmin asked once they calmed down and laid down on his bed.

“Why are you asking me, I’ve never been on one.” 

“But you’ve got so many confessions!” That was really confusing for Seungmin. His best friend was fairly popular at their school and got asked out a good few times since people finally realized they weren’t together. It wasn’t like only girls were doing that, there were at least two guys. 

“I’m not interested in anyone now. My main goal is getting you and Minho together.” Jisung replied. 

They laid there for about half an hour. Jisung was slowly dozing off while Seungmin was scrolling through the internet in hopes of finding something actually useful. As in most cases, there was nothing so he just snuggled closer to Jisung and closed his eyes. Suddenly, Jisung jolted up.

“Your brother!” He exclaimed. Seungmin had no idea what did that mean.

“Elaborate please.”

“Wonpil was in a relationship before, right? Just go ask him.” Seungmin wanted to protest but Jisung dragged him out of the bed and then to the hallway. Then he closed himself in the room so Seungmin had no choice but actually go to his brother. He knew that he would eventually have to talk to his family if the thing with Minho turned out well but he didn’t plan on doing that before. He walked towards his brother’s bedroom with a little shaky steps.

He entered the room after knocking on the door. He didn’t come here often anymore since Wonpil was away most of the time. He mostly came home only once a week, sometimes more often when his roommate - Jae, was particularly insufferable. Luckily, this time it was the case so Wonpil came home to rest a bit.

“What’s up Minnie?” His brother Wonpil started. Seungmin stood there, with his back pressed to the door. 

“How do dates work?” He quietly asked playing with the hem of his shirt. 

“You finally manned up and asked Jisung out? Or he asked you? Probably the second one, right?” Wonpil said with a huge grin as he motioned Seungmin to sit down.

“It’s not with Jisung.” He muttered and didn’t move. He looked up to see Wonpil staring at him intently.

“Come, sit down. Let’s talk.” Seungmin walked towards his brother’s bed with small steps. “Why are you so nervous?” Wonpil chuckled.

“You’re not mad?” Seungmin said confused by his brother.

“Why would I be? I’m glad that you like someone. Tell me about that person, they must be special if they caught your eye.” So Seungmin told him. Everything, from the first time he saw Minho, through all of the moments when they stared at each other in the hallways and then every moment they talked up to when Minho asked him out. 

Wonpil even teared up when Seungmin talked about the time when he was suppressing those feelings to not disappoint anyone, he felt sorry that he made his own little brother feel that way. 

“I’m so happy for you.” Wonpil told his brother as he held him in a tight embrace. “So now, the date, right?”

Seungmin waited in his living room for Minho to pick him up. His whole family, Jisung and Younghyun waited with him. They said that they need to at least see the guy before letting them go. It was a huge mess, Seungmin’s mom was saying how proud she is and almost crying, Wonpil was trying to calm her down. Their dad was sitting expectantly right in front of the door. Jisung was just standing there after giving up on stopping his brother from interrogating Seungmin about Minho. 

The whole room fell silent when the doorbell rang. Seungmin jumped on his feet and rushed to the front door where his dad was already greeting Minho with an intimidating look. He quickly pushed him aside and followed Minho’s eyes. He was looking behind Seungmin at the whole family not effectively hiding behind the wall while looking at them. Seungmin quickly took a step forward and closed the door behind him. 

“Sorry for them, they can get intense.” Seungmin said embarrassed. 

“They seem lovely. Here, it’s for you.” Minho said as he gave Seungmin a red rose. “Let’s go, the movie starts soon.”

They walked together with their hands interlocked. They didn’t talk but it wasn’t awkward at all. They were cherishing the presence of the other. Seungmin’s steps felt so light when he walked besides Minho, who gazed at him fondly from time to time. It already felt perfect for the both of them. 

They arrived at the cinema. Minho bought them tickets for the special screening of studio Ghibli’s ‘Whisper of the Heart.’ Since the day boy found out about it, he knew that he had to take Seungmin there. It served as a perfect opportunity to finally ask him on a date. 

It was the first time Seungmin saw this movie. He felt completely immersed into the romantic story. Through all of the scenes of the main heroine and her love interest he couldn’t help but think about his. He glanced to the side, only to see Minho already looking at him. The boy squeezed Seungmin’s hand and looked at him in a way that made the younger’s heart swell. This moment felt as if the dream came true.

Seungmin thought that after that they would just go eat something and then come back home. Instead, after dinner Minho took him somewhere else. Where, Seungmin wasn’t sure. He asked once, got the answer ‘it’s a surprise’ and decided that there is no point of asking more since Minho can be stubborn at times. Seungmin recognised the road they were taking but he didn’t want to get his hopes too high. He walked silently behind his partner who checked on him from time to time. 

When they arrived at their destination, Seungmin couldn’t believe that it was happening. He remembered mentioning that place to Minho once, but he would never expect the boy to bring him there for their first date. They stood in front of a planetarium. Seungmin wanted to go there since it was opened the year before but never got a chance until now.

They wandered through different sections of the building. Seungmin was talking animatedly about everything that was shown there and Minho could only watch and listen being completely smitten for the younger. He loved deeply the way Seungmin got excited like a puppy while explaining topics he was especially interested in. It was a pleasure to listen to him talk about things he loved so much. 

After an hour, they finally arrived at the top. The room was in a shape of a dome, with the ceiling made from glass that shown the night sky perfectly. There was no other source of the light in the room other than the moon and stars. The pair admired the beauty in silence, holding hands tightly. 

At some point, Minho shifted his focus from the sky to Seungmin, who was still fascinated by the view. The boy looked stunning, illuminated by the light of the moon. For the first time in his life, Minho was completely captivated by another person. He felt as if his love for the younger was overflowing. He wanted to be there for him, whenever he needed someone. To see that beautiful smile forming on his face, to hold him in his arms and never let go.

“Minho?” Seungmin asked.

“Can I kiss you?” Minho whispered. Seungmin looked taken aback for a second, but then nodded. Minho cupped younger’s face in his hands and leaned in. 

When their lips touched, it felt like they were in a movie. It wasn’t like the explosion of fireworks, it was rather like coming home to hide under a warm, fluffy blanket. Their kiss was soft but full of love for each other. At this moment, they didn’t want anything else. The only thing that mattered was the warmth that they felt while kissing the person they love. 

When they pulled away and looked into each other’s eyes, they knew that it was perfect. Even if not forever, they were perfect at that moment and that was all that mattered. They wanted to learn everything about love and feel everything about it together. 

So they did.

They learned how to love.


End file.
